The History of the Protestant Reformation, in Germany and Switzerland, and in England, Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands, France, and Northern Europe: Reformation in Germany and Switzerland

Still, as his work continues to be read, and perhaps believed by a considerable number of sincere persons, I have decided to re-issue the Review in an amended and considerably enlarged form, in order that those who really wish to discover the whole truth in regard to the Reformation may have an opportunity to read some of the facts on the other side. But, at the same time, I have thought it better to enlarge the plan of the work, and to embrace in it essays on the rise and history of the Reformation in all the other principal countries of Europe.

This is done in the second volume, in which is furnished a summary of the principal facts connected with the rise of the Reformation in England, Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands, France, and Northern Europe. These Essays are mostly reviews of different Protestant works, and hence the style of the reviewer, which had been adopted in the original publication, has been preserved throughout both volumes.

The range of the present publication is thus very wide; and I feel that I have not been able in so brief a compass to do full justice to a subject, upon which so many learned volumes have been written on both sides. Still I am conscious of having honestly endeavored to do whatever I could, to throw light upon a department of history so very important in itself and in its practical bearings, and so little understood among our separated brethren.

My principal object has been, to condense within a brief space a considerable amount of facts and authorities, which are scattered over many works not easily accessible to the mass of readers. Seeking to be useful rather than original, I have preferred to let others speak whenever their testimony would be likely to prove more weighty than my own words or reasoning. I have hence generally preferred Protestant to Catholic testimony; and the only merit I claim, besides that of an honest and earnest wish to promote the cause of truth, is that of some industry in collecting

PREFACE.

and endeavoring to knit together Protestant authorities in regard

to the character of the Reformation. The testimony of such witnesses is not likely to be undervalued or impeached by those who are outside the Catholic Church.

Prefixed to the first volume will be found an Introductory Essay on the religious and moral condition of Europe before the Reformation; and to the second, a similar one on England during the centuries which preceded the reign of Henry VIII. These general views are deemed important for a better understanding and a more correct appreciation of the Reformation itself, the champions of which are in the habit of justifying it on the ground of alleged abuses and corruptions running through many centuries, and deemed incurable by any other means than that of total separation from the Old Church of our fathers. I have also added at the end of each volume notes containing valuable documentary evidence.

Such as these Essays are, they are presented with honest intent to the American public. If I shall succeed in bringing back even one honest inquirer from the mazes of error into "the One Fold of the One Shepherd," my labor will not have been wholly in vain.

LOUISVILLE, KY., Easter Monday, 1860.